HONG KONG – Cloud Expo Europe/Asia and Data Centre World, the world’s leading industry technology event, opened its doors for the very first time in Hong Kong Wednesday at AsiaWorld-Expo to thousands of decision makers.
Welcomed at the official launch ceremony, crowds of delegates watched a vibrant lion dance and heard opening remarks delivered by IT advocate and Hong Kong Legislative Council member Charles Mok.
The event brought together leaders from enterprise, data centre operators, academia, and international technology service providers, attending keynote addresses, sessions and panel debates focused around top industry trends including privacy, the Internet of Things, maturing cloud strategies, and achieving agility in the data centre.
Day one conference highlights included an opening keynote address by Acting Government Chief Information Officer at The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Victor Lam, who spoke of the region’s rapid cloud growth and Hong Kong’s ranking as the number one location for cloud readiness in Asia Pacific.
He discussed current government initiatives and collaborations to promote the adoption of cloud and big data services and their potential to inspire innovation and entrepreneurship. Lam continued to point to data centre development as the backbone to business operations in Hong Kong and suggested its centrality to the region’s future Smart City objectives.
The Cloud Expo Asia Keynote Theatre later hosted Stephen Wong, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, who spoke on Hong Kong’s success in becoming Asia’s first jurisdiction to implement a comprehensive legal framework around the protection of personal data.
He provided an insight into the key regulation principles covering the collection of data, accuracy, duration of retention, security and openness. Wong shared his ambition of building up public education and digital awareness around the data risks presented in the cloud era. He concluded that a focus on enforcement, compliance and accountability would lead to trust and eventually a culture of respect for data.
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Across the hall, a lively panel discussion was delivered by a line-up of leading women in the Hong Kong tech sector. The packed session saw the panelists, including Susanna Shen, VP at the Hong Kong Computer Society and Head of Corporate IT at Hong Kong and China Gas, and Nicole Wang, Chief Information Officer at The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, discuss their inspiring and diverse paths to reach their current roles in IT.
The women covered a range of topics from education and nurturing talent to gender imbalance in the industry. They spoke of the particular assets females can offer as practitioners and suggested ways that the sector can promote and encourage female empowerment.
The Data Centre World Keynote Theatre also featured an interesting presentation delivered by Darragh Kennedy, Head of Cloud Services at international travel brand Lonely Planet. Kennedy emphasised the importance of leveraging cloud to grow business, providing Lonely Planet’s experience and its jump to embrace innovation and the mobile space as a case study.
Cloud Expo Asia, Premier Ecosystem Event for Tech Community
He spoke of the flexibility that SaaS technologies have provided the organisation’s workforce, as well as the cost efficiency and time saving that cloud has offered its global projects.
“Cloud Expo Europe/Asia and Data Centre World are the established, premier ecosystem event for the technology community and we are thrilled to welcome Hong Kong to the portfolio this year. The overwhelming response the Hong Kong business and technology community has shown not only marked the event’s immediate impact in this important region, but is equally a testament to the cutting-edge advances that the industry here is championing,” said CloserStill Group Event Director Chris Brown at the end of Day One.
FinTech firm ANX, which launched its Blockchain Services (ABS) at Cloud Expo Asia today, was extremely happy with the first day of business.
“We’ve had a great day – collecting a bunch of business contacts and leads, and familiarising visitors with our new product launch. We’re meeting good companies, and delegates with really relevant titles. It has been a fantastic platform for us to introduce blockchain into the market here in Hong Kong. The event has drawn a very high delegate number – it’s very attractive to exhibitors!” Amanda Yung, Marketing Manager, said
Winifred Wong, Global Cloud Platform Marketing Lead at Cloud Expo Asia Gold Sponsors IBM Softlayer added: “We’ve spoken to a lot of prospective clients – decision makers, as well as IT managers and other influencers. The delegates are all very interested in our offering and asking questions. Our session today in the Keynote Theatre was also packed and we’ve had very positive feedback. Hong Kong has really been missing such a cloud intensive event like this!”
“It’s been excellent to listen directly to a government representative sharing his own data centre strategy. It gives great insight which is useful for other companies to learn from. I have attended many data centre shows across Asia but this is the first time Hong Kong has seen such a large industry event. I will definitely be coming back to the expo next year!” said Data Centre World Hong Kong visitor Jimmy Ng, Data Centre Solutions Architect, Asia Pacific.
Manohar Chugh, Chairman at Nisha Electronic Industries, said: “I am a member of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce and sit on the board of directors helping SMEs. I hear concerns all the time about cloud adoption, security and IT cost savings so it has been really important to come here and learn first hand about these challenges both from the conference sessions and from the providers. Now I feel more confident about supporting these SMEs innovate and grow.” – BusinessNewsAsia.com